Citation:

Wiese, Katharina. 2020. “Energy 4 All? Investigating Gendered Energy Justice Implications of Community-Based Micro-Hydropower Cooperatives in Ethiopia." Innovation: The European Journal of Social Science Research 33 (2): 194–217.

[2]

Author: Katharina Wiese

Abstract:

More than 70% of the population in Ethiopia lack access to electricity and thus rely on conventional sources of energy such as biomass that is associated with negative consequences on health and the environment. Decentralized community-based micro-hydropower plants (MHPs) are being utilized as effective means to transition to modern low-carbon energy systems providing access to electricity to communities in remote areas. However, there exist a knowledge gap regarding energy justice dimensions and gendered impacts related to sustainable energy transitions in the Global South. This research investigates the gendered justice implications of low-carbon energy projects in the case of four community-based micro-hydropower projects in Ethiopia implemented by the German Development Cooperation (GIZ). Although the projects generally achieved positive outcomes for the lives of the villager’s socio-economic impacts on income; productive use, health and education affected men and women differently. The particular energy needs, uses and challenges that women face were insufficiently addressed and hence are limiting the opportunities for women to benefit equally from access to electricity. Generally, procedural justice aspects such as access to information, consultation and participation seemed to be insufficient to create a sense of ownership which in turn can jeopardize the long-term sustainability of the hydropower plants.

Keywords: energy justice, gender, community-based, micro-grid, hydropower, ethiopia

Topics: Gender [3], Women [4], Gendered Power Relations [5], Gender Equality/Inequality [6], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8], Justice [9] Regions: Africa [10], East Africa [11] Countries: Ethiopia [12]

Year: 2020

Citation:

Löw, Christine. 2020. “Gender and Indigenous Concepts of Climate Protection: A Critical Revision of REDD+ Projects.” Current Opinion in Environmental Sustainability 43 (April): 91–8.

Author: Christine Löw

Abstract:

Gender inequality and discrimination challenge the most important international climate regime mechanism on forests REDD+ (Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests and enhancement of forest carbon stocks in developing countries) in achieving sustainable development and protecting forests. The backgrounding of a gender-specific perspective in REDD+ research is often justified from the premise that forests are an inherently male business and REDD+ is only a technical issue. Although millions of women, predominantly indigenous women, are involved in forest work and forestry their importance for natural resource management has been systematically devalued and invisibilized. This paper reviews the gender literature on climate change and REDD+-projects to elaborate on gender-specific subordination of women, with a closer attention to indigenous women, which hinder effective forest protection, fair resource allocation, gender equality and social justice. The paper integrates an autonomous model for climate change adaption lead by indigenous women, that documents not only the local climatic effects on agriculture and forests but develops responses beyond the top downmodel of REDD+. Through relying on knowledge from decades about territories, seasons, trees and cultural life systems indigenous women together with youth and community members were able to sustain food sovereignty in the context of climate change – and the broader goal of people led sustainable development.

Topics: Development [14], Environment [15], Climate Change [16], Gender [3], Women [4], Gendered Power Relations [5], Gender Equality/Inequality [6], Indigenous Knowledge Systems [17], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8], Security [18], Food Security [19]

Year: 2020

Citation:

Merkle, Ortrun. 2019. The Gendered Dimensions of Illicit Financial Flows. Berlin: Transparency International and CHR Michelsen Institute. 

[21]

Author: Ortun Merkle

Abstract:

Illicit financial flows (IFFs) are increasingly understood as one of the greatest challenges to global development. Interestingly, while much attention is paid to gendered aspects of development overall, there are very few studies exploring the extent to which women are affected by and involved in IFFs. The links between gender and IFFs can be investigated from three main perspectives: i) how IFFs specifically affect women; ii) the roles women play in IFFs; and iii) how women can help curb IFFs.

Topics: Development [14], Economies [22], Public Finance [23], Gender [3], Women [4]

Year: 2019

Citation:

Shailaja, R. 2000. “Women, Energy and Sustainable Development.” Energy for Sustainable Development 4 (1): 45–64.

Author: R. Shailaja

Abstract:

Summary:
"Sustainable development is an equitable, empowering, environmentally sound, economically viable process of growth. Energy is the key indicator of sustainable development. About 74% of the population of India live in rural areas. 80% of their energy needs are derived from biomass. About 92% of this energy is consumed in cooking activity. Women play a major role in biofuel management. Rural women's perspective in sustainable development is therefore critical.

Declining biofuel resources, poor quality of the available biofuels and inefficient devices have pushed women into greater hardships. This paper examines the role of rural women in biomass management. The energy resources that rural women use, the strategy that the government and other organisations have adopted to alleviate rural energy problems and how these strategies have benefited women and improved their quality of life, the importance of incorporating the concept of ‘gender and development’ in alternative energy strategies to achieve the objectives of sustainable development are discussed in this paper" (Shailaja 2000, 45).

Topics: Development [14], Environment [15], Gender [3], Women [4], Households [25], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8] Regions: Asia [26], South Asia [27] Countries: India [28]

Year: 2000

Citation:

Skutsch, Margaret M. 1994. “Integrating Women in Energy Assistance: Which Way Forward?” Energy for Sustainable Development 1 (3): 49-51.

Author: Margaret M. Skutsch

Annotation:

Summary:
“Almost all the western donor agencies are very concerned with responding to ‘‘women’s needs’’ in the planning and implementation of development projects. Some donors have special units not only to organise women’s projects but increasingly also to make sure the needs of women are attended to in ‘‘mainstream’’ projects, for example by developing checklists against which to assess a project’s likely impact on women, or as an aide- memoire to planners to think about women’s interests when designing the project. All the DAC countries of the OECD have indeed agreed to prepare such instruments (OECD, 1990), which undoubted1y are useful in creating better working habits, and this is a good initiative. However, the existence and even the use of such guidelines will not seriously change the way development assistance works with regard to women if they are simply applied to the same types of development interventions that we have been using in the past. To really help women, it is necessary to rethink the types of projects supported, with a more basic understanding of what women need” (Skutsch 1994, 49-50).

Topics: Development [14], Gender [3], Women [4], Gender Mainstreaming [30], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8]

Year: 1994

Citation:

Smith, Julie A. 2000. Solar-Based Rural Electrification and Microenterprise Development in Latin America: A Gender Analysis. Golden, Colorado: National Renewable Energy Laboratory.

[32]

Author: Julie A. Smith

Abstract:

Worldwide, an estimated 1.5 to 2 billion people do not have access to electricity, including 100 million in the Latin America region. Depending on the country, 30 to 90 % of this unelectrified Latin American population lives in rural areas where geographic remoteness and low energy consumption patterns may preclude the extension of the conventional electricity grid. Women are heavily impacted by the energy scarcity given their role as primary energy procurers and users for the household, agricultural and small industrial subsectors in developing countries. As a result, women spend disproportionately more time engaged in energy-related activities like carrying water and searching for cooking fuel.

This paper describes the use of decentralized renewable energy systems as one approach to meet the energy needs of rural areas in Latin America. It outlines the advantages of a decentralized energy paradigm to achieve international development goals, especially as they relate to women. The paper studies Enersol Associates, Inc.’s Solar-Based Rural Electrification model as an example of a decentralized energy program that has merged energy and development needs through the local involvement of energy entrepreneurs, non-governmental organizations and community members.

Topics: Agriculture [33], Development [14], Gender [3], Women [4], Households [25], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8], NGOs [34] Regions: Americas [35], Caribbean countries [36], Central America [37], South America [38]

Year: 2000

Citation:

Smith, Kirk R., and Ambuj D. Sagar. 2014. “Making the Clean Available: Escaping India’s Chulha Trap.” Energy Policy 75: 410–4.

Authors: Kirk R. Smith, Ambuj D. Sagar

Abstract:

Solid cookfuel pollution is the largest energy-related health risk globally and most important cause of ill-health for Indian women and girls. At 700 million cooking with open biomass chulhas, the Indian population exposed has not changed in several decades, in spite of hundreds of programs to make the “available clean”, i.e. to burn biomass cleanly in advanced stoves. While such efforts continue, there is need to open up another front to attack this health hazard. Gas and electric cooking, which are clean at the household, are already the choice for one-third of Indians. Needed is a new agenda to make the “clean available”, i.e., to vigorously extend these clean fuels into populations that are caught in the Chulha Trap. This will require engaging new actors including the power and petroleum ministries as well as the ministry of health, which have not to date been directly engaged in addressing this problem. It will have implications for LPG imports, distribution networks, and electric and gas user technologies, as well as setting new priorities for electrification and biofuels, but at heart needs to be addressed as a health problem, not one of energy access, if it is to be solved effectively.

Keywords: household energy ladder, cooking fuel, household air pollution, energy access, LPG, biomass stoves

Topics: Development [14], Economies [22], Environment [15], Women [4], Girls [40], Health [41], Households [25], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8] Regions: Asia [26], South Asia [27] Countries: India [28]

Year: 2014

Citation:

Young, Claire F.L. 2000. Women, Tax and Social Programs: The Gendered Impact of Funding Social Programs Through the Tax System. Ottowa: Status of Women Canada. 

[43]

Author: Claire F.L. Young

Abstract:

This study examines the impact on women of funding social programs through the tax system. It does so using the framework of tax expenditure analysis, which allows one to view any departure from the normative tax system (i.e., those basic rules, such as the tax rate and the tax unit, that comprise the revenue-raising part of the system) as a spending measure. The analysis also takes into account the socio-economic realities of women’s lives and concludes that many tax measures that are subsidies in respect of social programs do not benefit women to the same extent that they benefit men. Tax measures explored include the childcare expense deduction, the Canada Child Tax Benefit, tax subsidies for retirement saving, the disability tax credit and tax relief for caregivers. The conclusion is that in many instances women have less access to these tax subsidies and, often, the amount they receive is less than the amount that men receive. The study concludes with a list of issues that should be considered by those involved in the tax policy process in order to ensure that women are not disadvantaged in comparison to men when tax subsidies are used to fund social programs.

Topics: Economies [22], Public Finance [23], Gender [3], Women [4], Men [44] Regions: Americas [35], North America [45] Countries: Canada [46]

Year: 2000

Citation:

Sudhakara Reddy, B., and Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan. 2013. “Energy in the Development Strategy of Indian Households—the Missing Half.” Renewable and Sustainable Energy Reviews 18 (February): 203–10.

Authors: B. Sudhakara Reddy, Hippu Salk Kristle Nathan

Abstract:

There is a growing consensus that universalization of modern energy services is central to reducing major elements of poverty and hunger, to increase literacy and education, and to improve health care, employment opportunities, and lives of women and children. In India, as per 2011 census, over 700 million people lack access to modern energy services for lighting, cooking, water pumping and other productive purposes. Devoid of these services people, mostly women, are forced to spend significant amounts of their time and effort on subsistence activities like firewood collection, carrying these head load for miles, and then burning these hard earned fuels inefficiently in traditional chullas. These adversely affect the health and standard of living for women and act as a barrier to gender development (here ‘gender’ means women unless otherwise specified). Although the links between gender inequity, poverty, and energy deprivation have been studied by many, not many practical solutions to the above problems have emerged. The present paper explores the nexus among gender–energy–poverty, highlights areas of gender concern, and suggests actions. We analyze how women from rural areas and low income households are at the receiving ends of energy poverty. We then analyze the roles women as an important stakeholders in universalizing modern energy services. We show how women self-help groups can be a vital link in large-scale diffusion of energy-efficient and renewable technologies. The paper concludes with policy pointers for sustainable development and gender empowerment through energy solutions.

Keywords: domestic energy sector, gender, entrepreneurs, energy poverty, self help groups

Topics: Development [14], Economies [22], Poverty [48], Education [49], Gender [3], Women [4], Health [41], Households [25], Infrastructure [7], Energy [8], Livelihoods [50] Regions: Asia [26], South Asia [27] Countries: India [28]

Year: 2013

Citation:

van den Boogaard, Vanessa. 2018. “Gender and the Formal and Informal Systems of Local Public Finance in Sierra Leone.” Working Paper No. 87, International Centre for Tax and Development (ICTD), Brighton. 

[52]

Author: Vanessa van den Boogaard

Abstract:

This paper considers how men and women in eastern and northern Sierra Leone interact differently with formal and informal revenue collection. It argues that the literature on tax and gender equity needs to be expanded in low-income countries to pay greater attention to the ways that citizens pay for public services in practice. It shows that formal taxation affects a very small proportion of the population, and especially of the female population. The reality is that women primarily pay for services at the local level through informal revenue contributions, which has the potential to reinforce gender inequities on account of the implications for intra-household divisions of power and lack of associated opportunities for political representation.

Keywords: gender, informal systems, local public finance, Sierra Leone

Topics: Economies [22], Informal Economies [53], Public Finance [23], Gender [3], Women [4], Gendered Power Relations [5], Gender Equity [54], Households [25], Political Participation [55] Regions: Africa [10], West Africa [56] Countries: Sierra Leone [57]

Year: 2018